I love making homemade playdough!  If you have young children you need this recipe.  It is a great opportunity to cook with your kids followed by endless play experiences.  Playdough is fantastic for strengthening muscle development which is an essential component of handwriting.  If you have multiple children that span a variety of developmental ages this is the perfect activity for you and your little ones.  Tasting new items is a natural part of exploration for young children.  Because this playdough is made with all natural ingredients you have nothing to worry about.  With the weather growing colder in many parts of the US and a hurricane and nor'easter potentially hitting the East Coast this is an ideal time to whip up a batch. 

There are so many variations you can make depending on your children's current interests.  Just come back from the apple orchard?  Red playdough.  Halloween around the corner?  Orange with black and orange glitter.  Snow starting to fall?  Silver glitter, no food coloring.  Family trip for ice cream cones?  Brown (chocolate), pink (strawberry) and green (mint).

The possibilities are endless!  Aid the exploration by adding items such as cookie cutters, unsharpened pencils, candles, rolling pins or popsicle sticks.

Homemade Playdoh Recipe
(makes enough playdough for 4 children)

YOU NEED:
2 C flour
1 C salt
2 C water
2 TB vegetable oil
4 tsp cream of tartar
food coloring (can also add glitter!)

TO DO:

Mix all ingredients in a saucepan (children can help with this step).
Cook on stove until mixture forms a ball (stir constantly).
Place ball on counter to cool slightly (it will be very hot coming out of saucepan). 
Knead the playdough to smooth out any bumps.
Store in a plastic container or bag.  It will last for weeks. 

ENJOY!

"Make it really, really scary Mom.  With spooky stuff like goblins and bats and witches.  Everyone needs to be really scared."  Those were my instructions from my three year old on how I should design his Spooky Halloween Birthday Party.  I could picture it now me going overboard on the spooky theme and having a house full of crying three and four year olds who never wanted to enter my house again.  No thanks.  I modified my version of a spooky Halloween for the younger crew and it was a huge success.  And by huge success I mean my son sobbed in his bed until midnight saying he just never wanted his birthday to end.  I have to admit I was sad for the day to end too!

Here are the party highlights:

Guests arrived to a Welcome Sign sharing the party activities for the day. 

The decor set the stage for our spooky (but not really that spooky) Halloween Birthday Party.  Fake cobwebs, purple and black bats and creepy, crawly spiders covered the walls.  Purple, orange and black helium balloons filled every corner of every room.  The party table had a simple polka dot orange table cloth, plastic ghost cups and cute Halloween plates from Oriental Trading Company.

Spooky house all set?  Time for fun!  Creating centers is the best way to ensure a successful party with young children.  Clear out as much furniture and excess toys as you can to make room for the different activities.  I taped large pieces of cardboard over our toy shelves to keep the focus on the Halloween activities.  A simple sign labeling each center helped guide the guests.  

Halloween Glitter Playdoh- I love homemade playdoh (I'll share my recipe another day).  This simple playdoh was made with orange gel food coloring and a very liberal amount of black and orange glitter.  I set up a table with balls of playdoh, rolling pins, chopsticks, cookie cutters and candles. 

Make Your Own Mask- I purchased simple paper masks from Michaels Craft Store.  I provided the children with glitter glue, multi-colored sequins, feathers and a variety of googly eyes. 

Face Painting- I set up a small table with child-sized chairs, face paint and a small container of water and paper towels for inevitable clean-ups.  This was a hit!  As you can see my 21 month old daughter, Luca, decided to paint her own face!

After the activities it was time to eat.  I kept things simple this year and ordered pizza and made pigs in a blanket and a simple garden salad.  Lemonade and apple cider were served. 

And, of course, what would a birthday party be without cake and ice cream?  The inside of the cake was chocolate and vanilla with a chocolate and buttercream frosting (I'll post my favorite cake recipes another day).  I designed the cake to be a haunted pumpkin patch.  My son adores Dan's white chocolate truffles so I covered them in orange tinted buttercream to create the pumpkin patch.  The ghosts are white chocolate and the tree is bittersweet chocolate.  I avoid artificial food dyes and instead opted for Seelect Natural Vegetable Dyes. 

We were lucky enough to have a beautiful sunny day.  65 degrees in late October in New England?  We'll take it!  Time to take the sugar-filled children outside for some pinata fun!  I purchased a bat pinata from Amazon for $15.  Like many pinatas this one proved difficult to crack open and reminded me of that hilarious scene from the movie Parenthood when Steve Martin's character finally takes out the electric saw.  The kids didn't seem to mind the challenge.  The treats were worth the wait!

As our little guests began to say their goodbyes we sent each child home with a goody bag filled with bubbles, pinata candy, halloween themed note pads, crayons and an individual portion of the Halloween glitter playdoh.  I purchased the bags from Michaels, cut pumpkins from orange glitter cardstock and attached googly eyes.  Each bag was personalized with the child's name. 

Quinn and my 9 year old niece, Fiona, declared this the best party they had ever been to.  High praise from two of my favorite kids.  I'll take it! 

What was your best birthday party when you were a kid?

Ever since my son's birth I get giddy as October approaches as I know it means time to start planning my son's birthday party.  I love party planning.  From setting the theme, to designing the cake and games, and decorating the house, it is truly an added bonus to having children! Next week my little guy turns 4, and I look forward to sharing his "Spooky Halloween Party".  As I take a break from designing goodie bags and painting monsters here is a look back at the highlights from his past parties.

Homemade Sesame Street Cake.  Each year Quinn designs his cake and I do my best to make it happen!  Pumpkin Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting accented with Seelect natural vegetable food dyes. 

One of our party games for Quinn's Sesame Street 2nd Birthday Party.  "Feed Cookie Monster".  Simple foam board with chocolate chip cookie bean bags. 

And really shouldn't all parties end with a dance party in your undies?

Another year, another party!  Cars and Trucks 3rd Birthday Party.  Chocolate Cake with Peanut Butter and Chocolate Frosting.  Mmmmm! 

Recycling Truck made out of cardboard boxes.  So much fun!  The children had piles of recycling items (cereal boxes, milk bottles, cans, etc.)  to put in and out of the truck.

Black Contact Paper road traveled through our house so little drivers could race around.  Our little guy loved it so much this road remained in our house for months.  Loved the block road being built next to mine!

Felt Board with roads, cars, fire trucks, dump trucks and police cars.  Loved making this and will be revisiting it for our Halloween party.  Adding ghosts, pumpkins, witches and bats!

Thanks for letting me share my little guy's celebrations with you!

Let’s face it toddlers aren’t exactly the quietest group of people.  So when your child is silent for more than 5 seconds chances are it is probably not a good thing.  You know how it goes, your kid is just out of eyesight, you are finally attempting to get something done without a small creature tugging at your pant leg, it is quiet and you think, “ahh, finally a quiet moment to myself” and then a half second later you think “oh crap, it’s quiet, what has he done?!” You are off running in a mad dash to avert a crisis.  Chances are you are too late.  I have a lot of experience in this area.  My mischievous boy is also creative.  The following are a few examples of the aftermath of quiet moments.  

Rubbing Desitin all over his body and eating it (Poison Control Center gave us the A-Ok).

One wall covered with brown crayon, another wall with a green crayon motif.

Quinn playing “jump the pile of pee” (sadly, that one can also be called “today at 4pm”).

A brand new container of salt poured onto our dining room table.

Peanut butter and jelly in his sister’s hair.

Chicken salad in his other sister’s hair.

(I just asked my husband for more and he couldn’t come up with any.  Yikes!  I promise I really do pay attention to my kids!)

And drumroll please, his entire, and I mean entire, body covered with purple dot paints that were not washable. 

What has your silent toddler done?

Allison Tate's piece in The Huffington Post has made the rounds in email chains and Facebook posts.  If you haven't read it yet, it's worth checking out here. As I was reading the article I was cringing at how many times I have critiqued photos of myself or my image in the mirror particularly the belly that after two c-sections and three babies will never be the same and yet I continue to beat myself up about it.  The article reminded me of a piece I wrote for my old website, Boy Crazy.  Enjoy.

"Before you say it, I know this is an unattractive photo.  I dream of having a beautiful photograph of my children all smiling and me with blow-dried hair and gorgeous makeup and clothes.  Sadly, this is my family portrait.  I can go days without showering (gross).  My hair is always in a ponytail, and my wardrobe is pretty much glorified pajamas.  But then I look closer.  I am managing three children under three!  Some days I do not know how I am doing it, and it might not always be pretty, but I am doing it.  

While pregnant with my girls I started asking veteran moms and dads of toddlers and babies for advice.  Parenting books can only get you so far.  The best advice comes from moms and dads who truly get what it’s like to be rushing a sick toddler to the bathroom, while holding a baby, only to step barefoot in diarrhea and the clock only says 9am (that was our Friday)."

My dream is for Homegrown Friends to bring us together, to break down our insecurities and support each other on this parenting journey.  I hope you will join me in celebrating the hard work we do every day.